America and the American in Twentieth-Century School History Textbooks

Abstract

This article discusses both the construction of the image of America in Spain as well as the meaning attributed to that imagery in twentieth-century Spanish national history textbooks for primary and secondary education. The study has, therefore, two main objectives: first, to point out the human and material elements by which America was characterized –and when these occurred– questioning whether America was presented to the students as an autonomous region independent of the European presence or merely as its subordinate. Secondly, to record the different meanings given to the episodes of the New World’s Discovery, Conquest and Colonization –and eventually the emancipation process– in the history of Spain. The political circumstances surrounding the production of these textbooks determined both meanings and imagery, as did the different pedagogical models that were used throughout the years. Such analysis can help us to understand how and to what extent Latin American became part of the Spaniards’ historical consciousness in the twentieth century.